Born Free in action today

A Hudson Bay polar bear (c) Dr. Thiemann

Born Free, since our very early years, has been working to protect wild and captive bears. As Zoo Check, we exposed their exploitation in British zoos and pioneered a polar bear surrogacy programme to place orphaned bears with wild surrogate mothers rather than being placed in zoos.

Wild polar bears have become an icon for climate change and Born Free is helping to fund vital research of the most southerly population of polar bears in Southern Hudson Bay. Brown bears sometimes come in contact with people in Europe and Born Free works to humanely resolve conflict between livestock owners and wild bears. Born Free supports the rescue of bears from bile farms in China and Vietnam, and helps care for dancing bears rescued in India.